Report: Boehner tells House GOP that he won’t bring Gang of Eight bill up for a vote

posted at 11:21 am on June 26, 2013 by Allahpundit

Doesn’t mean the House won’t pass something of its own, and it doesn’t mean something resembling the Gang of Eight bill won’t emerge from the conference committee later. But let’s appreciate good news while we have it.

In closed door mtg, Boehner just told Rs the House will not bring up the Senate immigration bill

I wonder if Boehner’s main concern here is PR or if he’s worried that the damned thing might actually pass if he allows a vote on it. In terms of PR, he doesn’t want to make it any easier for Democrats to paint the GOP as anti-reform; shelving the bill is better in that sense than putting it on the floor and letting House Republicans demolish it. On the other hand, maybe he’s not so sure that it would actually be demolished. Pelosi can probably pull together 170-80 Democratic votes for it. In that case, all you’d need are 40-50 wayward RINOs to defy leadership and cross the aisle and the bill will be on Obama’s desk. Can’t chance it.

That doesn’t mean, though, that they’re not suddenly under heavy pressure to oppose a Gang-style compromise. Per Rasmussen’s new poll, fully 51 percent of likely voters say that immigration is now “very important” to how they’ll vote in the midterms. One Senate staffer in Roger Wicker’s office told the Daily Caller that they got 500 calls yesterday alone. House Republicans will hear it even louder than that now that they’re the last line of defense from passage and grassroots favorites like Palin are calling openly for primary challenges against people who vote for the Gang’s bill:

“Conservatives are getting ready for the 2014 and 2016 primaries. We have long memories, and there will be consequences for those who break campaign promises and vote for this amnesty bill,” Palin told Breitbart News. “Competition makes everyone work harder, be better, and be held accountable. This applies to politics, too. No one is ‘entitled’ to anything.”…

Palin responded to Breitbart News’s request for comment about an interview she did earlier on Tuesday with John Gibson on Fox News radio in which she said Rubio and Ayotte “turned their back” on voters and should be primaried to be held accountable. Rubio and Ayotte will be up for reelection in 2016…

Palin also told Gibson that she had said “nice things” about Rubio before he “reneged on his promise” on the bill because she thought he was “an honest politician.” She remarked, “honest politician” is too often an oxymoron.

Again, though: The House will, and really must, pass some sort of immigration reform of its own, if only for tactical reasons. Killing the Gang of Eight bill and offering nothing in return is, shall we say, a “bad narrative” to hand to the media. Better to pass something and then have Senate Democrats kill it in their chamber to complicate the GOP-is-a-roadblock-to-reform narrative. Maybe they’ll pass a true “security first” bill that demands border improvements before any sort of legalization occurs. Or maybe they’ll take Mickey Kaus’s oft-offered advice and pass some sort of smaller reform on which comprehensive reform can be built later if security improves in the meantime. E.g., they could pass the DREAM Act to amnestize younger illegals in exchange for Democrats approving E-Verify. If Reid doesn’t like that, then he can explain why it fell to Democrats this time to kill the DREAM.

Leahy’s amendment would have extended benefits under the Senate bill to the spouses of gay illegals. That was Rubio’s dealbreaker on the bill — not the fact that it placed legalization before border security, not the fact that by CBO’s estimate it would reduce illegal immigration by just 25 percent (before Corker/Hoeven), but the fact that a tiny percentage of the illegal population would be allowed spousal benefits notwithstanding their being gay and married. That’s the smoking gun on how unserious and nakedly political all this is for him. No one who cares about border security would let that, rather than “legalization first,” jeopardize his vote for the bill, but it makes perfect sense if you realize that he’s worried about winning social conservative votes in 2016, especially in Iowa. In any case, the Court’s now, apparently, rendered Leahy’s amendment moot on constitutional grounds. Spouses of gay illegals should get benefits as a matter of equal protection. Does that mean Rubio walks? Or does he just shrug it off on grounds that he disagrees with the Court but whaddaya gonna do? I know how I’m betting.

Comments

Anyone found to be in the country illegally will be assessed a penalty of $10k and shipped home immediately.

20M illegals at 10K a pop = $200B, a significant dent in the Obama deficits.

No, we won’t get that much honestly, but hey why not argue we will and if we collect something it will deter illegals anyway.

Oh, and a $1M penalty per illegal working for a company if they do not have valid ID on file.

18-1 on June 26, 2013 at 12:02 PM

Or, if the convicted felon can’t pony up the $10K, deduct it from Mexican government funds held in U.S banks, or deduct equivalent value from U.S. aid to Mexico. And be sure to tell the Mexican government why it was done.

There’s plenty of precedent. In fact, if you consider the Mexican government’s behavior in this case a casus belli, you could invoke wartime procedures and seize all Mexican assets in the U.S., unless and until the Mexican government starts paying the same amount of attention to its northern border that it does to its southern one. (You really don’t want to try to cross that border without a visa, either way– trust me.)

Hitting penniless people with fines they can’t pay is one thing. Hitting the government that enables their law-breaking is another matter entirely.

On the other hand, maybe he’s not so sure that it would actually be demolished. Pelosi can probably pull together 170-80 Democratic votes for it. In that case, all you’d need are 40-50 wayward RINOs to defy leadership and cross the aisle and the bill will be on Obama’s desk. Can’t chance it.

The numbers are right. The motivation is wrong. Keep in mind that in every budget confrontation with Obama since the last election, Boehner and “40-50 wayward RINOs” have voted with Nancy Pelosi and against the rest of the Republican caucus to give the victory to Obama. We have a strong pattern of behavior. And we have no reason to assume that it will be broken.

Be ready to be betrayed, and to hold them as accountable as you can. The only thing they really fear is having to live outside the elite bubble.

Also be ready to be betrayed by other than the usual suspects. Given that every member of Congress has had all their private and official communications gathered by the NSA since 2009 [Verizon has the contract for all congressional Blackberries]; we can be assured that every one of them or members of their families have done something blackmailable, and the White House and DNC know all the details. These ARE politicians and their families, after all.

The Tea Party extremists are still using slurs and ethnic-invective against him. This is the same veil that fell when Allen Bernard West upset racist-conservatives with by daring to speak about Pigford.

As southern-bigots and people over 70 turn on Marco Antonio Rubio he will become a Hispanic icon representing right-wing bigotry.

Bluefox, easy fix to that problem. Go to zillow.com, find a house for rent in their state, write down the address and have the area code too. It takes some time but that’s what I’ve done. Since I work I have to leave messages at night but yesterday got home in time to call baucus’ MT office. Told the aide hubby and I retired there from TX due to all the illegals and this bill will be devastating. . She asked for all my info and voila. They usually just ask for the zip though. And always push *67 first.

TxAnn56 on June 26, 2013 at 1:02 PM

You are resourceful:-) This is the first time that I’ve had any aide/staffer to insist on that info. I worked for 3 solid months on Obamacare and never had that happen. Oh, they asked but didn’t get testy about it. Oh, the enforcer that got Obamacare passed, Baucus? Yeah, I would never forget him. Yes on *67 too.

Why? Stop playing defense against the Democrat/media complex. If they want to push for amnesty for illegals at a time when the economy is still in the crapper and Obamacare is about to drop on us like an atomic bomb, let them. I can’t imagine a better contrast heading into the midterms than to have the Dems talking about this, gay marriage, gun control, and climate change while the GOP addresses issues that actually matter to voters.

Doughboy on June 26, 2013 at 11:29 AM

Yes, a thousand times yes!

I have not heard one person who is worrying about the illegals living in that ominous shadow. But I have heard worrisome talk about the economy and the looming Obamascam about to befall all of us. Republicans, get real. Get outside of DC and breath some fresh air.

The numbers are right. The motivation is wrong. Keep in mind that in every budget confrontation with Obama since the last election, Boehner and “40-50 wayward RINOs” have voted with Nancy Pelosi and against the rest of the Republican caucus to give the victory to Obama. We have a strong pattern of behavior. And we have no reason to assume that it will be broken.Subotai Bahadur on June 26, 2013 at 2:10 PM

Exactly. We know what Boehner is up to. Regarding the NSA, that’s a possibility but we have no control of that. But we do know that Boehner & the House have passed everything Obama/Reid/McConnell have asked for.

The House will, and really must, pass some sort of immigration reform of its own, if only for tactical reasons. Killing the Gang of Eight bill and offering nothing in return is, shall we say, a “bad narrative” to hand to the media.

Isn’t it time we stopped worrying about the media? This thing must be stopped, period. The polls are on our side. Why worry about media narratives? We need to pursue our own agenda fearlessly.

Here is what is going to happen….
Once The One finally comes home from blessing the whole world with his super-intelligent ravings, he will bring Boehner to the White House for dinner; at which time a date and time will be planned for their next golfing summit. 18 holes and 5 hours in the clubhouse drinking and, there you have it. Boehner with a whole new outlook on immigration reform! We’ve all seen this movie before and know how it ends….bend over and get ready.